Trump’s Pardon Parade and the Battle of Buffets (Hour 2)

Live from the Civic Media World Headquarters in Madison, Wisconsin, it's the Todd Alba show.

And now, pursuing truth wherever it may lead, here's your host, Todd Alba.

Across

Wisconsin on the Civic Media Radio Network and streaming worldwide on the Civic Media app.

Good afternoon, everybody.

I'm Tal O'Ball along with Mr. Sam Davison, our producer and engineer for the day.

It is Wednesday, May 28th, 2025.

It is a great day to be a Wisconsinite, and it is...

Oh

my gosh, that's fantastic.

I

forgot it was a Wednesday.

That

was quick.

There we go.

It was a dancing camel.

We again wish a fond farewell to Sam Davis.

That

was a

wonderful audition.

No, that was great.

That was the best possible thing.

Hello, everybody.

Glad to have you along with us at the Civic Media World headquarters here on State Street.

Overcast skies today.

Looks like some rain coming in for much of Wisconsin today into tonight to then warm me up for the end of the week.

Yes, Mr. Zommers is out.

Doctor visit.

Nothing serious, but he'll be back tomorrow.

All things considered, but...

But ladies and gentlemen, we are very thrilled and honored.

Whatever Zomers is not here to have Mr. Sam Davidson, the producer of John and Gordy here at WMDX in Madison.

And folks, this will be our most likely our last time with Sam because Friday is his last day here at Civic Media, although he just missed a

camel.

I mean, come on.

That's

right.

Oh, I'm sorry.

There's something else.

Sorry.

No,

you're you're

You're doing some other stuff, right, Sam?

That's

right.

Well, the long-term plan is to become a high school teacher, social studies teacher.

This summer, I'm taking off, though, to work at a summer camp I used to work at.

Boy Scouts of

America?

That's right.

Looking forward to it.

I think this is fantastic.

We all, by the way, joining us, the host of, I almost said, geez, I almost said up north, he was the host of Mornings.

He should get you one of them script, he thinks.

Right, with Pat Kretlow.

Mr. Pat Kretlow himself from beautiful Lake Wissota, these studios there, which he was kind enough to share with us last Friday, and joining us from our nation's capital in the Tony suburbs of Arlington, the former Republican like myself and now a senior advisor at the Lincoln Project, Mr. Trig V. Olson.

Trigby and Pat, we've talked about public education so often on this show, and Pat, I know you have spent a lot of time on yours.

Don't we need more great teachers in our public schools like Sam Davidson?

We do need more great teachers in our public schools.

And I believe Sam Davidson has the potential to be one of them.

Yes, absolutely.

One day, one day, perhaps.

One day, with a little bit more practice.

Yes, E2.

No, I recall when he told.

When he told me that live on our air, I'm sure folks heard me right away kind of startled and gushing.

It was like, this is great.

We need this.

We need more civics.

We need more social studies.

We need all of the things.

And Sam, I can't think of a better person to go in and do that.

So I am, I am genuinely thrilled for him and know that he'll, he's going to change lives.

Yeah.

Thank you, Pat.

Absolutely.

Really appreciate everything you've done to Sam for not just our show, but this network.

And he will be forever remembered on this show for the Sam Davison Street cam, which he set up and created.

Let's take a live shot for those watching the stream, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter.

Look at that shot.

Right down there, the Sam Davidson Street Cam, right on the corner of State Street and Fairchild.

It's a beautiful day, a little

overcast.

Sleepiest capital city in the...

The legislature's not working, so... That's a good point.

That's fair.

What's going on down here?

Thank you, Sam.

We'll check in more, Sam, a little bit later.

I'll throw out the show.

Hour number two, we might actually do a little My Favorite Sam's, a segment we call My Favorite Sam's, in hour number two.

Also coming up...

in hour number two today.

I'm gonna do a little what's worse for you.

Today's category, a la carte menus or buffets.

A la carte menus or Jimmy Buffett's or buffets.

We'll discuss that in hour two.

But first of all, gentlemen, wanna get into a little newsy news.

And by the way, we're gonna break.

Whenever she calls in, we have a special guest calling in because I had an MRI yesterday and I'm bringing in help to diagnose it.

So some more of that a little bit later.

But I actually had a colonoscopy yesterday.

We could

have a diagnose that too.

Wow.

Wow.

Old men are either medical problems on the off-ball show today.

I raise a glass of metamucil to you both.

The prep is terrible.

Sam's like, I cannot leave here soon enough.

God, I'm such a old

man.

Honestly, Sam needs to think I can't turn 50 soon enough or I can turn 50 too soon.

We'll get to that in a minute.

But let's do some serious stuff till till Dr. Lyley calls in.

I want to start.

Wait,

wait, wait, wait.

Your your MRI is being diagnosed by your gynecologist.

Dr. Lyley.

Yes.

Yes.

Isn't that fantastic?

All right.

I'll

allow it.

Go ahead.

Thank you.

the Joint Finance Committee, and as rumors, they're gonna have an executive session.

Finally this week, we had State Senator Kelder Royson last week, and she's been making weekly appearances, so kind enough to do that, a member of JFC.

And Pat, let's start with you, a former Democratic State Senator here in Madison.

This seems weird to me, this process.

We talked a little bit about it on your show this morning, and now there are signals that maybe some Democrats want Governor Evers just to outright veto whatever Republicans send him.

They could I mean that's that's one possibility and there were many people in the capital yesterday on behalf of a coalition of groups that were saying look if this budget Instead of trying to fix a bad budget with partial vetoes just veto the entire thing and tell the legislature to start over and as we covered on the program this morning

You know, that comes with the risks because this isn't the federal government where, you know, you have a shutdown if there's no budget.

It just continues under the current budget, you know, in perpetuity.

And Republicans don't necessarily see that as a bad thing.

It then becomes a messaging war.

You know, is it that the lazy legislature isn't doing its job or is it that the governor wouldn't come to the negotiating table?

And the thing, the thing at the bottom of all this is the mistrust.

And there is so much.

distrust between Republicans and the governor, nearly all of which lies on the side of Republicans who from the get-go, from the moment Tony Evers was elected, looked for ways to undermine what he's done, took away some of his powers, haven't confirmed so many of his nominees, never working off of his budget bill but, you know, insisting on starting on their own.

And

They simply don't have the moral high ground on this.

However, they really won't think twice if they don't have to pass a budget at all in my view.

Trivi Olsen, you've spent time working in the state capitol and the legislature as well also for former Republican Governor Scott McCallum and tangentially for Republican Governor Tommy Thompson as well before you moved out to DC.

You guys talk about narrative, about messaging, what Pat just said.

What are your thoughts, you know, Robin Voss, the speaker pretty well?

If Tony Evers just decides to veto the whole thing, isn't there a risk that Voss and Devon Lummihew, the majority leader of the Senate, simply say, look, we passed something?

We put a budget there and if Tony Evers doesn't want to play ball, then the reason that we don't have a budget is because of him.

I think it really depends on what Evers is willing to do, right?

Like the the the reality is, you know, if whether Evers runs again or not, right?

Like there's this is this is in part going to shape 2026 and the election for governor in the state of Wisconsin.

So.

At some point, there has to be the calculus that you have a Republicans across the state.

For Evers to win, he's going to need to run slightly better than Harris did in those places.

Obviously, the legislature's advantage politically is they have people spread out across the state who are known, who are going to be talking about it.

And Republicans have the slight advantage that in the marginal parts of the districts, the marginal parts of the state tend to be Republican districts, right?

So they've got natural advocates.

If Evers is going to get out and really run a campaign style to places like Eau Claire and Chippewa Falls and Wasaw and make the case.

then I think that is a strategy that they definitely should think about pursuing.

If Evers is unwilling to go out and do that kind of retail selling for why he vetoed it, then I think they may be better off trying to go down the macro messaging of vetoing little pieces, bits and pieces, and sell that rather than going full on.

war impact quite low isn't that

one of the knocks on the Democratic governor he's a nice guy he's smart he'll go to meetings and he'll kind of go out once in a while but he's he's not a barnstormer certainly not like Tommy Thompson or even Jim Doyle for that matter which would go out and kind of get on the stump and sell stuff

right I mean the firebrand is never a word that has been used there but he just quietly goes about getting the things done that he can get done with this kind of a legislature he

points out, you know, where, where there are flaws.

Occasionally, he uses some really strong language like saying HE double hockey sticks and, you know, people.

People appreciate that, frankly.

So all of us who love being inside the parlor, we want to see the bare knuckles.

We want to see the sharp elbows.

And Governor Evers has always been the kind of manager that says, I can get this done quietly.

And if I can't get it done, I will quietly tell you where they're wrong.

It's how he won a second term.

It's how he would count on winning a third term.

Because most people, by all of our admissions, I'm sure, would agree that most voters

don't really follow the minutiae of a state budget.

They just want to know who's on your side.

Tony Evers is usually better at that than any Republican that's run for statewide office lately.

And

picking up

on that.

But he'd

have to go out and make the case.

Right.

He has before.

Yeah, I mean ask Governor Michaels how that's working out

for me.

I don't disagree with that.

A couple of minutes before the first break here, guys.

Let's speak into parlor games.

Let's play If You Were Jim Clouser.

the former guy who ran Tommy Thompson's cabinet.

If you guys were putting the budget together and advising Tony Evers, or even the Republicans for that matter, what are the top two or three things that you would make sure is in that budget to go out and sell it?

Pat Crightlow.

To go out and sell it?

Well, again, this is more a reflection on me.

I would always say the win-win, it does you the most good.

Look for that, especially with a, let me say again, four.

billion dollar surplus you got it if you could can go out and say you know I didn't like everything the Republicans got but look what we got if you can if you can get that that to me is always the ultimate thing to do now it's not for Robin Voss and so that's why it's tough for Tony Evers even if that's what he wants to do it's tough for him to get that but if you're asking what my advice would be I'd say look for any kind of a win-win you can pull out of it.

Well since Clouser was the Democrat who worked for a Republican I guess if I were a Republican advising governor Crichtlow, I would be saying one We need to think long and hard about where can we where can we line item stuff?

I think the line item has been revised somewhat But I would try and take individual pieces out in terms of big bold initiatives you have a

You know, you have the surplus.

I would make it about public education slash workforce development.

And I would build a narrative around how public education is the hub in the core of our communities.

I would actually fight with them on the UW system to a degree.

And I would make the same case that while Republicans are busy saying.

that the University of Wisconsin's woke down of indoctrination and then sending out Christmas cards bragging about how their kids graduated from the UW Engineering School like Scott Walker does every year, although I don't get his Christmas cards anymore since I started banging on him on the show, which I don't really care.

But saves the post office work.

But I would be saying to Pat, listen, let's make this...

We're the ones standing and fighting for the smaller communities

and

and then and then tell the consequences, right?

Like look at what's happening in healthcare in Eau Claire, right?

Right and but then the good side of that, you know, UW Wisconsin Eau Claire with

with the partnership with Mayo Clinic.

I would make it a referendum on that.

TrigVee

also

already has, quite low for governor, 2026, ready to go.

Come on back, we'll discuss more with Pat.

Thanks for your own TrigVee,

thanks.

And TrigVee, on the other side, stay with us.

It's the All Ball Show for Wednesday, across Wisconsin, on the Civic Media, ready to work.

Wherever it may lead, and having fun doing it, welcome back to Total Ball Show on the Civic Media Ready Network.

22 now, past the hour of two o'clock on this Wednesday.

May 28th, glad to have you along Lorraine outside the clouds, but glad to have you along Sam Davidson on the board for in for Aaron Zommer's today.

Pat Crite low host of mornings with Pat Crite low joins us from beautiful Lake Wissota and Trig V Olsen senior advisor to Lincoln project is out in beautiful Arlington in Washington DC area.

All right, guys now here people that listen to show regularly know I'm pretty open about my life because I always think well if I'm going through something maybe it can help somebody else and

So I've talked before, during my lifetime, I've passed a couple of kidney stones.

And let me tell you, that ain't no fun.

And I've been told I got like three or so still left in the left kidney.

So I was having some pain is my left flank, my left side a couple weeks ago.

And I went in, they were like, well, we haven't done an MRI on these things in a couple of years.

So I had an MRI done yesterday.

And just before we went on the air, I've gotten my results back.

And this is what the note says from the physician assistant, the nurse, I guess it's a nurse practitioner that helped out on this, said, Todd, your kidney stones do not look concerning.

Very good.

That's good news.

You have quote unquote fatty liver and this is recommended to manage with healthy weight and diet.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Sarah.

Fatty liver, and this gets very concerning to me.

And so I thought what better to help out than bring on our own, well she's not a resident, she's a full-bird MD, our very own Dr. Kristen Lyrely, host of the Kristen Lyrely show every Saturday here across Civic Media.

She's kind enough to join us via phone.

Dr. Lyrely, how are

you?

He thought I'm better than you.

I think my letter is normal, pal.

I'll say this guy's off so much.

He's got a gynecologist interpreting his MRIs on his kidneys.

This is great.

I

know, right?

Although these odds are right because about 25% of people actually have fatty liver disease.

So let me count here.

Todd.

It's a disease?

Pat.

Me.

Yeah, it is.

It's considered a disease.

No,

no, there's

four of us.

There's four of us on here That means I guess we know who's the one and four Todd.

Yeah, there you go

now now clarify Dr. Lyley because we were talking before we went on here because my mother is going to have a heart attack She's told me she goes well, I think that you've been you know, I'm open up my alcohol consumption.

I have

Like it's literally I haven't had a drink since probably Friday.

And I I'm not like I don't sit down and have a six pack.

I'm not now, even if I wanted to, after two beers, I'm just tired.

So it's not like that.

I don't I don't drink a bunch of hard alcohol.

Occasionally a drink.

So I'm not I'm not a big drinker.

But this is not what I want to emphasize.

This is not alcoholic fatty liver.

It's just your standard fatty liver.

What causes this, Dr.

Lirely?

If it's diagnosed on an MRI, it's really difficult to differentiate between the two.

They typically fall into one of two buckets, either the alcoholic or the non-alcoholic.

If it's alcohol, then obviously the best treatment is to reduce your alcohol consumption.

If it's non-alcoholic, the best treatment is to improve your diet.

exercise, evaluate the medications that you're taking, including any supplements because they can all cause fatty liver disease as well.

Maintain a normal weight.

Yeah, all of those things can contribute.

eye cholesterol or dyslipidemia we call it, it's more than cholesterol.

That can contribute to fatty liver disease.

The fatty liver disease is exactly what it sounds like.

It's fat that accumulates in your liver and it makes it less efficient and less able to manage the toxins in your body because your liver really is just a big filter.

That's very interesting.

I don't mind sharing.

So I'm a 55 year old man.

I'm five foot nine apparently now.

I weigh 178 pounds and I don't, I mean, I don't take any meds for cholesterol or anything like that.

I'm otherwise healthy, but I think you're right.

A, I do take vitamins on and off and B, you know, my diet is crap because I work weird times than I just, I don't eat well.

So I'm thinking that's probably what it is.

Yeah, I'd be curious.

Just look at your last MRI and see how much change has occurred since then and what that time interval was.

And I'd also be curious to see what does your routine blood work look like?

Have you had a routine preventive exam with your health care provider?

Yes.

And what did your cholesterol numbers look like?

What did your sugar numbers look like?

Could you be pre-diabetic?

No.

All of those things can contribute to fatty liver disease.

I've listened to you across this network and I have an annual full-bird physical with a full pan...

and my doctor's down just below the line for high cholesterol.

I'm on the higher end of the good spectrum.

But otherwise, no, blood pressure is fine.

I'm fine.

Tony Zimmerman, by the way, watching on YouTube says, he says, yes, drinking old fashions with Pat Kratlow on air on Friday.

That's real healthy, Todd.

That's never a healthy thing.

Could I just suggest, Todd, that you use my barometer in terms of whether something is fatty or not?

Derek Van Orden.

refers to me as fat all the time in his comments.

So I'll know that my weight's under control when Derek Van Orden needs to find a new insult for me.

So get yourself a politician that will hurl medical-based insults at you and use that as your barometer.

Well, that's fantastic.

Calling you fat.

Oh, yeah, in the comment sections.

That's a big thing.

That's terrible.

He's bald with a bad beard.

Seriously.

I'd like to see what Derek Van Orden's liver looks

like.

Oh, right.

Oh, yeah,

he's got

your alcohol kind.

Yeah,

exactly.

I

have a question for you.

So now I having traveled on

one minute.

What do you think of the Red Bull and the mini donuts every morning?

I don't have that.

Probably be part of his problem.

Maybe he should.

No, I don't.

I

really don't think your friends know you better than you.

No, don't my mother is probably listening.

I don't I don't even like Red

Bull.

I don't do that.

It's coffee and donuts.

He gets it and one full clam shell of those quick trip cookies every day with the little M&M's in there.

All right.

I know it's how to clean out a quick trip.

Dr. Lyley, I cannot thank you enough for making time in your day to do this.

Thank you for all seriousness.

Thank you because I feel better now.

I just have to watch my diet.

I think you need better

friends.

Yeah.

You too can talk about this at 8 a.m.

Friday when you're both filling in for me,

okay?

All right, sounds good

Patrick.

Thank you Dr. Lyley.

Thank you Trivia on the other side.

Stay

with us.

Bye

bye.

Courtesy of the fast fingers of Sam Davison to Peshmo by request from our guest is our Trig V. Olson.

The Senior Advisor at Lincoln Projects.

Glad to have you along here.

35 minutes now past the hour of two o'clock on Wednesday, May 28th.

That's the all ball show across Wisconsin on Civic Media.

Well, there you go, guys.

Thank you.

Many thanks to Dr. Liarley for stopping by on very, very short notice after I got those results.

I think the bottom line is I just need to eat better and exercise more.

That's the bottom line.

Sam, you said not to overshare, but you went to the doctor yourself today, right?

Yeah, for the first time in a few years, I had to put my big boy pants on and schedule an appointment myself for the first time, went in and pretty much healthy.

As they always say, I can eat better, exercise more, but doing

well.

But you're in good shape.

You're not

overweight.

Yeah.

No, you're healthy.

You're an eagle scout, for God's sake.

That's right, yeah.

Right?

So you had to go to kids, you had to get done for the Boy Scout camp stuff.

Yeah,

yeah,

that's right.

But you're healthy, you're healthy.

Yeah, I could probably run from bottom end to the top end of State Street without stopping.

Really?

I probably could.

There was a time...

Eight years ago, I could.

I'm not sure.

I need to get back into better shape.

Trig V is, he's got a personal trainer now.

Trig V, I mean, I think this is actually a really good, we're having a

lot of fun

with this, but I think it's a little bit, I think this is a really good discussion because I think we, as men, too often, we put it off, we put it off, we say, nah, nah, I'll be fine, we have this attitude that we're gonna tough it out, but.

The the reality is if we get regular routine exams annual exams if there is something wrong You can deal with it much better than if you let it go

Yeah 100% and I will tell you taking off weight Todd is a is a huge part of it as you know I've taken off probably 45 pounds, maybe 50 very proud of you.

I've lost I've lost muscle

You know, I was doing powerlifting for a while with my trainer, but I can do six pull-ups.

I don't even think in college I could do six pull-ups.

So yeah, it makes a huge difference.

And in fact, when I went in and I say this in all seriousness, I did go in for my colonoscopy yesterday.

I've been doing good Wisconsin company.

I'd done colon guard before that,

right?

Which you get to be 57 in your mail.

You need to go in and do it.

colon cancer screening is really important.

I had a high school classmate who was a nurse, Christina Hanson at Mayo Clinic.

She died of colorectal cancer in her 40s, and it was tragic.

I mean, she, because she, you know, it turned out she was adopted and it ran in the family.

It's incredibly important to do.

And honestly, I thought it was going to be horrible.

Basically, they cart you in, they're talking to you, they flip a switch on your IV, and the next thing you know, you wake up and you're in back in the other room.

Yeah, I mean, I have not had one done yet.

My doctor said the colon guard screening was enough for now, but probably the next couple of years, I will have to.

But everybody, I've had friends go through it, besides TrigV, and same thing, TrigV.

They say, I don't really remember anything.

They go in, they talk to you, they give you the

IV, and then you wake up.

So it's yeah and the consequences of not doing it.

I mean you do not want to get colorectal cancer You know you don't know and the the other thing that I will tell you it's kind of funny, you know So Colingard is a Wisconsin company.

Yeah base here by a guy a guy who?

My dad knew his dad my dad and his dad worked at 3m

really

um

But what, yeah, you want to hear my funny colon guard story though?

Sure, why not?

All right, so you know what?

Well, it is FCC appropriate, but go ahead.

It is FCC approved.

So you know how, yeah, you.

you do your business and then you have the box that you have to send back and you just have to take it to a UPS store.

So I had the box and I came out with it and Erica was going someplace, my wife, and I said, hey, I got this box.

Did you take it to the UPS store?

And she says, what's in it?

I said, just some crap I need to say.

I use the other word.

And she's like, well, what is it?

And I'm like, literally some crap I need to say.

That's really good.

I like that.

That was nicely done.

Nicely done, Trigby.

Yeah, that's

good.

Bottom line is they all kinds of jobs in Wisconsin.

They're very huge.

Colegaard is a huge, huge company here in Madison in all seriousness.

Guys and gals, everyone, take care of yourselves.

Be preventative.

Don't especially if you're a guy.

Don't be Mr. Tough.

Go regardless of your age.

Get regular routine exams and Trigby to kind of turn that into where I want to go next to Washington, D.C.

A lot of people

people don't have the insurance to go for routine exams.

And that's part of the reason they don't do it.

Let's spend a little time on what's happening out in DC in terms of the reconciliation bill.

I'm not going to use the...

the marketing that Trump is on this bill.

But the reality is, if the House version of the past were to be passed by the Senate, chances are it won't.

And Trump would sign it into law.

We have no choice but to expect major cuts to Medicaid, which would impede people here in Wisconsin.

Yeah, would.

I think, I mean, first of all, it is highly unlikely that the bill that got through the House is going to get through the Senate

as it's

constructed.

That's number one.

So, you know, some of this is, I mean, we live in this age where, you know, everybody's, now that I'm on Substack, I'm one of those people, but like everybody's trying to tweet, everybody's trying to look for angles, right?

Like, so you got the media 24 sevens.

So like controversy sells and you've got two Warren camps and.

The truth of the matter is the Senate, the bill is going to look very different.

I think the bigger question is, how do the Senate and the House ever come to some sort of reconciliation about what our priorities are?

And I think one of the things that is really sort of a challenge, and I'm pretty conservative guys, but I also believe there's an element of humanity that we are losing.

You know and you I wrote a substack post on this because I'm really trying to not write substack.

That's about outrage It's about it's calling out some of that but I wrote about Joe Biden

You know saying that he had cancer, right?

And he's seriously ill and and how there were people that were literally trying to get political advantage out of that and and Saying just things that you shouldn't say when there's another human is getting that because all of us are going to be in that situation someday May be a friend.

It may be ourselves, right?

Medicare and Medicaid

The idea that there's waste, fraud, and abuse, there probably is some.

But it's also true that what they're talking about seems to be actually cutting people that need it.

Right.

And we're all going to be judged at the end of the day when we reach the end of the line on not on how much money we had or what kinds of things we did, but how gracious we were to other people.

Because remember, our lives really end when everybody knows who knows you.

is gone.

And while people exist, what are they saying and what are they thinking about you when they think about you?

And we're failing on that in so many ways, Todd.

If you'd like to weigh in on this

budget going through the house right now, give us a call.

Any other questions for TrigV?

855-752-4842.

855-752-4842.

You can also text us on the Civic Media app, download today, your Apple or Android device.

Go to your search bar type in civic CIVIC media.

It'll pop up click on that little cute CM logo takes less than a minute It's free.

It's what CBS is gale King calls a deal Sam I sent you a cut on Elon Musk speaking of CBS from CBS Sunday morning Let me know whether you got that one ready.

Look at how fast he is look at that fast fingers there So a trig me speaking of this bill the Trump bill there's upcoming interview this

This Sunday with David Pogue the interviewer with Elon Musk, they've released part of this interview and Elon Musk kind of getting off the Trump train.

Here we go.

So, you know, I was like disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly, which increases the budget deficit, not just decrease it.

And it reminds the work that the Doge team is

doing.

I actually thought that when this big, beautiful bill came along, I mean, like...

Everything he's done on Doge gets wiped out in the first year.

I think a bill can be big

or it can be beautiful.

But I don't know if it can be both.

My personal opinion.

His personal, Elon Musk saying the bill can be big or it can be beautiful, but it can't be both.

Trigby, what do you make of that?

I think Elon Musk has learned some valuable lessons about politics.

Like don't mess with Wisconsin voters.

And dealing with people who have autocratic personality disorder.

You knew it wasn't gonna end well and it has ended horribly for Elon Musk and quite frankly the road This is the thing about Donald Trump that people don't want to there are a lot of people who want to deny There's lots of people who get this the road of people who have connected themselves to Donald Trump is littered with people where it has ended very badly and you know one of the fears from the outset for me has always been that

it may end very badly having him as president of the United States again for Americans.

Far

worse

than it ended the last time, which it ended the last time in January 6th, which is one of the lowest points in American history.

Well,

Jack and Mary Max in the fall are going to get to Jack in just a second, but I want to pick up quickly, Trigby, on what you just said about his Trump's personality disorder.

We talked about this a lot yesterday.

Over the Memorial Day weekend, Trump was tweeting out Happy Memorial Day, talking about people as scum.

Never mentioned the men and women who died in battle.

I found it very offensive.

Then he said he was going to give a Memorial Day speech.

He said enjoy it.

Completely disrespectful to the men and women who lost their lives and the families that remain after that.

But one of my knocks triggered me on

More democratic or liberal pundits is they love to say oh look see Trump has dementia.

It's all dementia Look at why is why aren't they talking about Trump's dementia?

I have a dad who has dementia and we're going through that in my family right now I just don't see that.

I don't think that Trump has dementia Talked to you've taught you've dealt with authoritarians around the world.

What do you and you're not a doctor?

But in your experience, what do you think it is in this personality that that's just off?

I mean, I just kind of think he has autocratic, what I call autocratic personality disorder, which is they are all kind of the same personality.

The desire for control, they're completely zero sum.

I think, you know, Donald Trump is 78 years old.

Has there been cognitive decline?

Sure.

There's cognitive decline in any 78 year old versus somebody who's in their fifties or in their twenties, right?

Yeah.

Like that's just a reality.

I think the whole.

you know, he has Alzheimer's, whatever, having had two parents, both of whom had Alzheimer's and having lived through it with my mom, which you know, probably, you know, closer than anybody taught, you know a lot about how taxing that was and challenging because she became really hard to deal with.

But, um, yeah, I mean, it's just, you know, you wouldn't wish dementia or Alzheimer's on anybody.

And I think here's the other thing, quite frankly, I'm reading Jake Tapper's book on

Biden.

And people need to read that.

And Democrats, any Democrats who are going down that path with Donald Trump, and if Republicans try and cover up for Donald Trump the way that Democrats tried to cover up Joe Biden and what was going on, which the American people saw, there will be a real cost to that.

And that book, it's outrageous.

Joe Biden's decline was something that was well known.

And they were trying, there was a cover-up to try and do that.

And who did that ultimately help?

It helped Donald Trump.

Yeah.

8-5-5-7-5-2-4-4-2.

Let's go quickly to Jack and Merrimack.

Jack got about a minute left.

If you can fit it in, please go ahead, Jack.

I'll try to be brief with two things.

Thing one, the Republicans who are so enamored with our Constitution and especially the Second Amendment and at least give lip service to the First Amendment,

need to read the purpose of the Constitution, as is outlined in the preamble, which includes a phrase, something like, to promote the common welfare, and say, taking over, destroying Medicaid, and programs like that, food programs, that's not promoting...

the general...

Jack, hang on, Jack.

Jack, don't go anywhere.

Just hang on a second.

We're up against the clock.

We're going to take a break.

We'll finish up with Jack on the other side.

Trigvie as well.

And, uh, Packer news coming from, well, kind of, sort of, from Terry Bradshaw.

Get Trigvie's take on that as well on the other side.

You know, he is a Packer owner.

It's the all-ball show on Civic

Media.

Lake Michigan to Lake Superior, Green Bay, the Mississippi River, and every place in between across the state of Wisconsin on the Civic Media, yes, I talked for a living, the Civic Media Radio Network.

I got ahead of myself because I was gonna say Sam Davidson on the board in for Mr. Zommer, so he'll be back tomorrow.

In hour two, we're gonna do a segment called My Favorite Sam's.

Sam gets ready to depart Civic Media on Friday to go be a teacher and lead people.

I guess so, yeah.

Have you encountered many Sam's in your time?

I'm not gonna say a lot, but I have some.

I

have some.

So is that what this is gonna send out?

Well, I

think we're gonna open it up to the audience.

Oh, okay.

Because, I mean, you're certainly one of my top favorite Sam's of all time.

Oh, thank you.

Yeah.

So we'll do my favorite Sam and then also what's worse in our number two as well right now talking about the Trump reconciliation bill That is going through Congress right now the ramifications thereof.

We are up against the clock Let's bring Jack from Merrimack back in Jack.

Sorry about that But the computer shuts me off whether I want it to or not so I'll finish up your thought what your thoughts about this, please

Okay, well, thank you.

Yeah, basically the first thing was

The Republicans need to read the whole Constitution, particularly the reasons for the Constitution, as stated in the preamble, one of which is to promote the general welfare, and not the welfare of billionaires only, but just the general welfare.

The other thing I wanted to point out is that, and

you

guys have both said that,

Because you get older, it is important to keep these regular checkups going.

I look at them as preventive maintenance, like changing the oil on your car and just try to keep that machine working properly.

By the way, Trippi at 80, I can still do six push-ups on a good day.

At 80 years old, Jack's two and five pull-ups a day, Trig V.

That is outstanding.

I play ice hockey with a guy who's 74.

And that is my goal is to be able to keep playing until my 70s.

That's awesome, Jack.

That's awesome.

Appreciate the call as always.

855-752-4842.

855-752-4842.

All right.

Terry Bradshaw on a podcast here this week.

And the rumor now is that former Green Bay Packer Jets quarterback is on his way to Pittsburgh.

And Terry Bradshaw, four-time Super Bowl champion with the Steelers,

It's not too happy about it.

Here was a branch.

I have to say What do you

think about possibly Aaron Rodgers being the quarterback as a joke?

He shouldn't they should that is just to me as a joke But what are you gonna bring him in for one year?

Are you kidding me?

I mean, that's not the Steelers way, right?

No, man, that guy needs to stay in California Thank you and thank you on bark

100% these guys on the show Mr. Bradshaw know I'm not a fan of his we've been around each other personally and he was not a kind person yeah he does not I had to go over and introduce myself to him he he's not I had to go hey hey Aaron I'm Terry Bradshaw I know he knows me but I just felt like I better tell him who I am yeah and not you know walk in there and you get in his presence and you feel like it's gonna start snowing

All right, there you go on a podcast.

I'm not sure the name of the podcast was or I'd shout it out.

Can you see it Sam or

not?

I don't know.

That's fine.

What do you think of that, Trigby?

When you walk into a room with Air Rogers, it feels like it's going to snow, says Terry Bradshaw.

Yeah, I just, Terry Bradshaw, honestly, that guy, he is kind of an American icon, I think.

He is.

He always kind of has been, too.

Right?

Right.

Like such a character.

such a character before Super Bowl, which is three more than Aaron Rodgers has.

Absolutely.

Let's face it.

Terry Bradshaw.

Terry Bradshaw.

That was a guy who was all about team Aaron Rogers is a guy who's all about me and I don't know if you saw it Todd I was thinking about this when Jack was talking, you know, I had a post on Facebook I have my substack, but then I try and keep my social media Independent

of each

other, but I posted because I've been thinking about this a lot You know, we had people like 80 Halverson in my hometown who?

watched the first atomic bomb test.

We had, we had all these guys, we had a guy, a Pahachek, one of the Pahachek boys.

He had, he had Storm Normandy.

He was one of the boys at Pointe du Hoc.

There were 200 Rangers.

I went and read about this online.

200 Rangers landed at Pointe du Hoc on Normandy on day one.

18 of them survived.

He was one of the 18.

They stood and fought off Germans, right?

Like these guys, and you know what?

He went home, he farmed, and he delivered mail.

That's what he did.

And but he was a pillar of the community and we have gotten so far away from that and when you see the Medicare cuts and all of these all about me, me, me, those guys had an understanding that it's about something far bigger than me because of what they went through.

Yeah.

Right.

That's a great point.

200 of your brothers and 18 of you are left fighting for your lives.

You look at things a lot different and man, have we gotten away from that.

This is what we're seeing now is the test of our character.

I think you're absolutely right about that.

And.

It's a great context to compare Bradshaw to the team guy and Rogers to the me guy.

Probably a reason that, you know, he's a fan of Robert Kennedy.

There's all of that bizarreness.

It's all about me.

It's just crazy.

And appropriate, you bring that up, bring me again.

I travel across Wisconsin this weekend on Memorial Day, and you pass all these cemeteries of flags and all these memorial markers in different cities and counties across Wisconsin.

And sometimes we don't pause and think that represents someone's life loss.

A brother, a sister, a son, a daughter, a mom, a dad, they're never coming home.

But they made that sacrifice for us and we have to always remember that and never forget.

Yeah, and we need to honor it by by trying to take what lessons we can from them.

I mean, 100

percent.

Now, I will say that is of all the posts I put on Facebook.

And part of the reason why I keep politics off of Facebook is I have lots of friends who, you know, are more on the right.

I have a bunch on the left, right?

Right.

That that did get universally liked.

Trippy is a university

like guy.

He's gonna come back and spend a little time with us hour two what's worse is next hour two my favorite Sam and talk about Donald Trump pardoning some people as well all that more straight ahead don't go anywhere It's the all-ball show for a Wednesday across Wisconsin on the civic media

Live from the Civic Media World Headquarters in Madison, Wisconsin, it's the Todd Alba Show.

And now, pursuing truth wherever it may lead, here's your host, Todd Alba.

Across

Wisconsin on the Civic Media radio network and streaming worldwide on the Civic Media app,

Good afternoon, everybody.

I'm Todd Allbaugh, along with Mr. Sam Davison on the board, our producer and engineer in for Mr. Zommerins today.

It is six minutes now past the hour of three o'clock on this Wednesday, May 28th, 2025.

It is a great day to be a Wisconsinite, and it is... Pump Day!

Yes!

Sorry.

It was a little late on that again.

No, but it's fine.

He was in the stable.

Yeah, we

had to pull them up, get them up to the microphone.

That's

right.

Sometimes it's, you know, camels get older like all of us, it takes a while to do their job.

They're very stubborn animals.

Have you ever ridden a camel?

No, I wish.

Have you?

Yes, back in the day, the Henry Vila Zoo here in Madison

had camels and they would give you a ride on the camel.

And my, my mom, God love her soul.

She did not have a lot of money being a single parent, but she would break because the, the admittance to the zoo itself was free.

So that was one of the cool things still is by the way.

And I think it costs, I don't know what it costs, a couple of bucks to ride the camel.

And so yeah, we would, we would a couple of times and we, I love the way we're good.

Talking about Sesame Street in a minute, but there was another a Travie Olson senior advisor Lincoln project has stuck around here for a bit of hour two Travie, do you remember on Sesame Street the me and my camel me and my camel going to the dentist today and they kind of chewed like that around and around I love the way a camel chews

Yeah, what and why don't wire why they named cigarettes after camels, but not chew that would be perfect.

It should be chew the camel chew Anyway should be coming up an hour to

It is Sam's, well, probably the last time on our show, and we always appreciate it when Sam was so kind to stop by.

Zomers had a little thing on appointment today, so he couldn't be here.

Sam was kind enough to stop by.

But Friday is Sam's last day at Civic Media.

I'm very sad about that.

But Sam, will you promise to come back and visit occasionally?

Oh, of course.

All right, good.

How could I just leave this place?

Probably very easily.

No, no, we want.

But in all seriousness, you're an enormously talented person.

You're a graduate of University of Madison here.

You are a badger through and through.

You're you're reliable, you're professional, and it's just been an absolute pleasure to work with you.

And you've made our show better.

Oh, thank you, Todd.

Yeah, absolutely.

Really appreciate you.

Sam's going to go on.

finished, he already has one degree in, was it journalism or communication?

Communication.

Communication.

Now for education to be a social studies teacher.

That's right.

And he's an eagle.

Somebody texted earlier, let's see if I can find that.

They were very impressed that you are.

and Eagle Scout.

Let me see if I can...

Dave in New Berlin.

Oh, yeah, there.

Dave in New Berlin says, you're an Eagle Scout, Sam.

Congratulations.

My stepson is an Eagle.

It's a pretty big deal.

It is a very big deal.

Yeah.

So you

end zombers for Eagle Scout.

Yeah, that's crazy.

And Luke Mathers.

Three of them here at the station.

Crazy stuff.

So

you're... Trigviel remember this?

It was Reagan, right?

Trigviel, because every outgoing president of the United States.

Tradition is that they write a note to the incoming president and they put it in the drawer of the Resolute desk or whatever the desk is in the Oval Office and Reagan's

part of the Resolute press

yeah part of the part of the Note that Reagan left for his successor George HW Bush was it's tough to soar like an eagle when you're surrounded by turkeys

We're here, we're here is just the opposite.

I'm the turkeys surrounded by eagle scouts.

Oh, you're more than a turkey, Todd.

Come on.

Well, you know, some people would say.

Anyway, we'll talk.

We'll do a little bit more of my favorite Sam coming up in hour two here and also talk about some of these Trump pardons.

Very, very interesting.

Scott.

Oh, it's not Scott.

No, it's Scott McFarland is he laid this out at CBS.

on this Scott Jenkins part.

And I'm going to play that a little bit later this hour and discuss that a little bit.

But Trayvye Olson, Senior Advisor at Lincoln Project always likes to have a little fun when he can on Wednesdays.

We appreciate about him, that about him.

And at 11 minutes past the hour of three o'clock, it's time once again for What's Worst?

Let's

go.

Time once again for what's worse, nothing to give away, no prize money involved, but it is your chance to have your voice heard across all 11 news talk support stations in the Civic Media Network.

Largest radio network in Wisconsin, behind only Wisconsin Public Radio, no better place to have your business advertised than here on Civic Media.

Go to civicmedia.us to find out how.

All right, timely, timely indeed, as we found out in our number one, Todd has a fatty liver, non-alcohol fatty liver.

That's very important to emphasize here.

Just your run-of-the-mill fatty liver.

So Dr. Liarley has said I need to start eating better and healthier.

So here now, timely indeed, what's worse, the category today, a la carte menus or buffets.

A la carte menus.

or buffets, 855-752-4842, 855-752-4842.

You can also text us on the Civic Media app, download it at your Apple or Android device store, and it is free.

Give it a try, the Civic Media app, text us.

Alucard, or Alucard menus, I should say, or buffets, what's worse, 855-752-4842.

Trig V, you're a man of the world.

You've traveled a lot.

You've eaten out a lot.

A la carte menus or buffets?

What's worse?

So a la carte's where you're just like picking off the menu.

Yeah, I think it means like you go to like the bigger, you know, you've been to these kind of the fancier steak places where, you know, the fillet is 75 bucks.

The baked potato is 18, you know, the, you know, or everything is a la carte.

Like, like there's no, you don't order a.

an entree, and it comes with salad, soup, and fries.

So I love this game, this or that.

What's worse, but yes.

I'm going to break this down.

I'm going to I'm going to channel my best Claude or what's the open AI GPT

rock or whatever.

All right.

So this is what I'm going to tell you, Todd.

Yes.

There is no right answer to this.

Really?

All right.

Yeah.

So if you're talking breakfast when you're traveling around the world, you definitely want buffet, not a la carte.

Okay.

Like particularly in Europe or in most places around the world, breakfast is included in the breakfast buffets are fantastic.

So you definitely want buffet, not a la carte for breakfast.

Best breakfast buffet in Europe.

The best one I've ever.

Well, some of them in Asia are incredible.

I would say the best I've ever had in Europe is at the Marriott and Warsaw, Poland.

Phenomenal.

There's also one, I was at one in Copenhagen, although I can't remember the name of the hotel, but they had the best bacon I've ever had in my life.

But you can't probably have bacon because it's not good for fatty liver.

Anyway, so you might

want a la

carte.

But

for lunch and dinner,

a la carte is way better.

If you're going, yeah, you don't want ponderosa or the golden corral.

The golden corral or any of those, right?

No, yeah, definitely not buffet for dinner, but for breakfast, definitely buffet.

So that's my answer.

You're

splitting your

vote.

I'll give you I am splitting my boat.

What's worse is not as cut and dry as some of your other this or that's What's worse a la

carte menus or buffets 8 5 5 7 5 2 4 8 4 2 8 5 5 7 5 2 4 8 4 2 Give us a call.

Mr. Davidson will answer put on the air

for you.

I'm glad that it wasn't the question today wasn't Sam or is Amherst

No, I would never do

that against each other.

I would win in a fight me or Aaron

in a fight

I'm pretty sure you would win even if I feel like

some of us would be scrappy

Like let me Adam.

Let me Adam kind of yeah,

exactly.

Yeah, you or me trivia.

You'd kick my butt

Yeah,

you're tall.

You're tall.

Zombers might be a kind of Nia in the groin kind of.

Maybe.

He's possibly a dirty fighter.

He might go completely postal.

All right back to the submission.

Hey a la carte menus or buffets.

What's worse eight five five seven five two four eight four two eight five five seven five two four eight four two Gordy down in Oregon at Copkeys Greenhouse one of our great sponsors says a la carte is worse Love me a great buffet or Buffett whichever you prefer DJ in was all listening to WXCO says buffets are way worse Unless you like the freshly squeezed

I'm not gonna read that.

A different kind of flavor.

Let's put it that way.

Matt in Middleton, listening on WMDX says, buffets are much worse as the dude is often of questionable origin and quality.

I love a la carts as I like variety in smaller portions.

I'm not sure what that means.

Matt Middleton says, he says, I meant to say food, not dude.

He must've been voice texting.

Cindy in Wausau says, buffets are worse.

Unfortunately, some people are messy, dirty pigs.

If the buffet is not well maintained, crusty food edges are so not appealing.

Nor are food porn illnesses.

Well, definitely for sure.

Duffy in Mount Horibut, MDX says, Norwegian breakfast buffet for the win.

There you go, Trigvie.

Yes.

Some of the Norwegian breakfast buffets.

I will tell you this though.

One thing on buffets.

So I will say there is a buffet at the Venetian in Las Vegas,

which is

considered the top buffet in Vegas.

And it's it's as expensive as all the cart, but it's unbelievable.

It's really good.

All right.

Yeah.

I mean, it's like, yeah.

It is.

Yeah.

Well, I got taken there by a client.

Yeah,

all right

Sam.

I was out there with somebody it was crazy

Sam a la carte menus or buffets, you know I haven't really been to that many bad buffets But I like a golden corral gets a bad rap.

I've only been there once it wasn't that bad I've usually gone to like a Chinese buffet.

Oh, yeah, and the one in

Ross

child, Wisconsin I think that was last time I was at one nearby where I grew up.

It's pretty good

Trippy does does raise an interesting point though about having a breakfast buffet versus just any other Yeah, I think I'm gonna have to agree with him and go a la carte for lunch and dinner sort of meals

Yeah, I it is interesting point.

I think of all the buffets.

I would say that breakfast are are the best

I don't know I I think also a la carte menus are a lot more expensive generally So if it's money is the issue then a la carte.

Yeah, you get so much food and if you'd like sneak in Tupperware containers or something I Take a little home with you.

I

I Aided a lot of bad buffets while I was covering pioneer sports that you to be a plattville doing games all around Wisconsin the Midwest and my former broadcast partner Kevin Connor and I always went to a buffet and I've kind of buffed out unless it's like a nice breakfast buffet

So, all right, very good.

There's what's worse.

Thank you, Trevi, for playing along.

We appreciate you.

Who came up with the topic today?

Our writers.

CP.

No one ever reaches

out to me for this or that topic.

We are always open.

One of the people at Gordy's Greenhouse last week at Kopkes Greenhouse said we should have people call in and like on Fridays recommend a topic for what's worse.

Maybe we'll do.

How about Aaron Rodgers and Brett Farve?

That we just had that one yesterday, I'm serious.

All right, stay

tuned.

What?

I'm serious.

It was very hot.

Stay tuned.

Back with more after this is the All Balls Show on Civic

Media.

truth wherever it may lead and having fun doing it.

Welcome back to the title ball show on the Civic Media Ready Network.

Glad to have you along with us.

It's 22 past the hour of three o'clock on a Wednesday, May 28th.

Sam Davison on the board and in for Mr. Zomers who'll be back tomorrow.

Sam is leaving Civic Media on Friday, but we'll have him back from time to time.

Once again, let's take a look at the Sam Davison Street Cam here in downtown Madison at the corner of Fairchild and State.

Oh, look at that.

A couple of well-mannered.

I was going to say well-mannered pedestrians.

That guy's Jay

Walker.

He's just walking through the middle of the street, not even crossing the road.

He's like crossing diagonally through an intersection.

It's a Jay Walker.

We have a live Jay Walker on the street cam.

Citizens arrest, citizens arrest, as Barty Fife once said.

And he barely made it.

The cars were, this, have you noticed that Sam, we look down in State Street, how many times do you see people crossing against the light and just expecting people to stop?

Well, especially on State Street, because further down there are almost no cars.

Even if I bike down State Street, if I get further down, there's people just crossing the road without even looking.

almost run into me when I'm going down the road on my bike.

It's a pet peeve of mine.

And look, let me preface this by saying I have very pro bike.

I have very pro mass transit.

I think those are things are great as long as it's done well.

But one of my pet peeves in Madison, which a city that I love, but and I want to do a show on this and people have told me, no, don't do it because you'll rile up the pro bike people is I want to do a show.

live at either the cross of the bike path on Midvale or down here on West Washington.

Because what happens is you have bikers, and I'm not joking around, going, I'm not joking around, going like 25, 30 miles an hour.

Now, wow.

Correct me if I'm wrong.

You're a smart young person.

When you get to, because there's a button on a post, you're supposed to stop.

push the button the big flashing LED lights come on and that says to the motor vehicles stop and let the person cross but you got these yahoo's that think well I'm on a bike well you better stop and they cruise through these these crosswalks without ever stopping without ever pushing the light and then look indignant

if people don't stop for them.

And I'm telling you, somebody's gonna get hurt and then the bike coalition is gonna have a big press conference.

Oh, it's the motor vehicles fault.

And I'm not, look, if they stop and push the light and the cars don't stop, 100% the motor vehicle fault.

Yeah, the car is gonna win.

The person in the big metal death box is gonna win every time.

Am I wrong about